In a recent interview with Edge magazine, head of Xbox Phil Spencer talked about the company’s plans regarding Xbox Game Pass. During the interview, he explained that Xbox Game Pass isn’t the sole focus of the company going forward.
Additionally, he also remarked how it’s often thought that a platform holder wants to focus on just one particular facet of the experience (such as Xbox Game Pass in the case of Microsoft, first-party blockbusters in the case of Sony) when this couldn’t be farther from the truth. Spencer says envision a time when everyone on Xbox will be an Xbox Game Pass subscriber.
“I’m not picking on you when I say that, but you know, the thing I get a lot is ‘it’s all about X’, or ‘it’s all about Y or Z’. And when you’re running the platform, it’s all about X, Y and Z, right? It’s all of those things,” he said (via VGC). “Do I want, or do I envision, everybody who’s on Xbox being a Game Pass subscriber? I don’t. I want people to make their choice. Some people want to buy all the games we ship and create their own library.”
While Spencer’s sentiments are largely understandable, it cannot be denied that Microsoft has been dumping exorbitant amounts of money into making Xbox Game Pass the most lucrative part of its gaming ecosystem. While we still have our doubts as to whether the subscription service is sustainable, Spencer, for one, believes that it is “very, very sustainable”.
